CNN
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One person died and several others were injured in a series of large explosions that shook the area of a Russian military air base in Ukraine’s annexed Crimean peninsula on Tuesday, local authorities said.
Footage from the scene showed large plumes of smoke rising into the air. The Russian Defense Ministry said the blasts were caused by detonated aviation munitions, Russian state media RIA Novosti reported.
“Around 3:20 p.m., several aviation munitions exploded on the territory of the ‘Saki’ airfield near the Novofedorivka settlement,” the ministry said in a statement, according to RIA Novosti.
Earlier on Tuesday, Kоnstantin Skorupsky, health minister of the Republic of Crimea, said five people were injured as a result of the blasts. It is unclear whether the deceased was among those previously reported injured.
Paramedics and an air ambulance were dispatched to the site of the explosions, according to the health ministry.
Russia annexed Crimea to Ukraine in 2014 and considers Crimea part of its territory. Kyiv and its allies do not recognize the annexation and consider the Ukrainian peninsula to be territory under Russian occupation.
Oleg Kryuchkov, adviser to the head of the Crimean region, confirmed that several explosions occurred near the village of Novofedorivka.
In a statement posted to his Telegram channel later that afternoon, Kryuchkov said around 30 people living nearby were evacuated from their homes following the blasts and an aerial cordon was set up. place around the perimeter of the airfield.
Separately, Sergey Aksenov, the head of the so-called Republic of Crimea, said: “I went to the scene in the village of Novofedorivka, Saki district. The circumstances are being clarified.
He said there was “a scattering of fragments” at the scene and emergency crews were working at the site.
“Measures have been taken to establish a cordon around a 5-kilometre zone: fences, traffic police teams and foot patrols to avoid injury to local residents,” he added.
There has been no news from the Ukrainian side about possible attacks in the region. Ukraine is not known to have struck the territory of Crimea since the start of the Russian invasion.
The blasts came just hours after the Ukrainian military carried out what appeared to be their deepest strike yet in Russian-occupied areas in southern Ukraine near the Crimean peninsula.
Serhii Khlan, adviser to the head of the civil-military administration of Kherson, told Ukrainian television on Tuesday: “This morning there was good news, there was a very powerful detonation in the Henichesk region.” .
Henichesk is in the southern Kherson region and about 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the nearest Ukrainian front line.
Khlan suggested the target was on the railway line between Henichesk and Melitopol.
“We are still awaiting official confirmation from our Armies, from the General Staff, but this is very good news. The detonation was heard for 1.5-2 hours at this station, which connects Crimea and Melitopol,” he said.
The creation of a land corridor linking Crimea with Russia through the occupied areas of southern and eastern Ukraine was one of the objectives of the Russian invasion.
Moscow said in June that it had achieved that goal and that the Russian military had “restored” 1,200 kilometers (745 miles) of railways and opened roads to allow “full-fledged traffic” between Russia, the Donbass region in eastern Ukraine and Crimea, the peninsula annexed by Russian forces from Ukraine in 2014. Water supply through the North Crimean Canal – a lifeline for Crimea – also resumed, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said.
